1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to aerospace engineering and is applicable in launching missile vehicles and other heavy large payloads from aircraft to urgently deliver them to remote parts of the Earth and the ocean.
2. State of the Art
Conventional apparatuses for launching missile vehicles from an aircraft use extraction parachutes.
By way of example, in 70th the U.S.A carried out launching mock-ups and Minitmen-1, ICBMs removed from the weaponry, from S-5A military aircraft to demonstrate the air-basing capabilities thereof (Rocket and Space Engineering, 1974, No. 6, pages 1 to 6). A missile on a special take-off platform was mounted on roll-tables in the freight compartment of the S-5A aircraft. The platform with the missile was released through the rearward port of the aircraft by two extraction parachutes. The parachute deployment and extraction of the missile from the freight compartment took more than 6-8 seconds. After a lapse of time from the release of the platform with the missile from the aircraft, hoop-stress bands holding the missile on the platform were broken, and the platform with the extraction parachutes attached thereto was disengaged from the missile.
A similar technical solution was suggested in RU Patent No. 2,068,169 C1, IPC6 F41F 3/06 by V. P. Makeev GRC company, involving a method for firing a missile from an aircraft. The method comprises the steps of: drawing a missile laid on a platform together with the platform from the freight compartment of an aircraft by extraction parachutes; separating the platform from the missile and taking it away by the same extraction parachutes.
Disadvantages of the prior art launching apparatuses include the necessity to use special platforms and extraction parachutes, which are expandable. In light of physical constraints imposed on the maximum weight launched from a given aircraft (constraints on the extraction parachute force, aircraft controllability, the aircraft structural strength in the xe2x80x9cdoorstepxe2x80x9d region of the launching hatch), the weight portion of the payload to be launched will be always smaller then that maximum possible one per the weight of the platform. This prohibits e.g. the provision of maximum load-carrying capacity to put into orbit for the air-start missile vehicles launched from an aircraft. A significant disadvantage of the prior art methods is the necessity to provide new large extraction parachutes or unreliable multi-canopy systems made of the existing extraction parachutes for such heavy payloads.
A known aerospace system taught in RU Patent No. 2,160,215, IPC7 B64G 1/00, 1/14, F41F 3/06, comprises a missile vehicle located in a transport/launching container. The transport/launching container is mounted inside the aircraft fuselage, has an open end to release the missile vehicle, and a pneumatic expulsion mechanism, such as a pressurization source, connected via locking accessories to an air-tight pneumatic chamber between a dead end of the transport/launching container and an end of the missile vehicle.
Most closely related to the present invention is an apparatus taught in U.S. Pat. No. 5,279,199, IPC6 F41F 3/06, B 64D 1/04 of Hughes Aircraft Company for rearward launching (expulsion) of a missile, comprising a launch tube in which the missile is mounted, and means for expelling the missile, said missile expulsion means being an airbag with means for pressurizing the airbag.
In launching payloads, the prior arts taught in RU 2,160,215 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,279,199 do not use expansive dispensable elements, such as platforms and extraction parachutes described above, and provide fast expulsion of heavy payloads from the aircraft. By way of example, according to RU No. 2,160,215 to expel a 100 ton missile vehicle of 3 m in diameter from the freight compartment of AN-124-100 xe2x80x9cRuslanxe2x80x9d heavy military aircraft in 2 seconds, the pressure in the transport/launch compartment must be about 1.5 gage atmosphere. In this case, the force to expel the missile vehicle will be about 100 ton-force at the longitudinal load factor of about unity and the relative speed of about 30 m/sec at the instant when the payload leaves the container.
The problems with the above prior arts include considerable lateral loads (responses) acting on the payload to be launched from the mounting members. The lateral loads become especially great at the instant of leaving the launching container by the payload being launched, when part of the mounting members have already left the container, and all the inertia forces acting of the payload being launched are concentrated on the mounting members remaining in the container. In addition, at the final step of the payload exit from the launching container, e.g. when two belts of the mounting members remain in the container, the payload being launched can be wedged or undergo inadmissibly increased loads from the mounting members.
With heavy large payloads to be launched, such as missile vehicles, the great lateral loads necessitate strengthening the missile vehicle structure, which increases the weight thereof, reduces the load-carrying capacity and raises the specific cost of the payload launched.
The objects of the present invention are to reduce lateral loads acting on heavy large payloads when they are launched from an aircraft, therefore, reduce the structural mass of the payloads, such as missile vehicles, increase their load-carrying capacity and reduce the specific cost of launching the payload, as well as provide the aircraft and its crew safety at the launching stage.
The object of the invention are accomplished in an apparatus for launching heavy large payloads from an aircraft, comprising a launching container with an open end, a pneumatic expulsion device for expelling a payload from the container through the open end, a pressurization source, wherein the payload to be launched is located inside the launching container on mounting members that are placed on at least two belts of the payload to be launched. At least one of the mounting members is a calibrated leg. Maximum force adjustment values and admissible lateral displacements of the legs are selected so that to maintain a guaranteed clearance between the launching container and the payload when it is launched from the container.
The mounting members are secured on either the payload to be launched or the launching container.
In the embodiment with the mounting members secured on the payload to be launched, the calibrated legs are maximum distant from the open end of the launching container.
In the embodiment with the mounting members secured on the launching container, the calibrated legs are located on the belts maximum close to the open end of the launching container.
To damp vibrations in the calibrated legs and reduce dynamic structural loading on the payload to be launched, the calibrated legs comprise dynamic vibration dampers for damping dynamic vibrations of the payload being launched when it leaves the launching container.